TV REVIEW - BANSHEE (Series One)

                                               A Nice Place To Visit? No.

As Banshee prepares to make it’s UK debut courtesy of Sky Atlantic on Monday 29th April, I thought it would be a good time to let the curious know what they will be in for when they take a trip to the Pennsylvania town.

First up, there are minor spoilers here, but nothing that will ruin your enjoyment of what is a surprisingly good show. I say ‘surprisingly’ because when you watch the first episode you will be wondering what the hell is going on. Antony Starr plays the un-named protagonist, released from prison and immediately running for his life, eventually reaching Banshee in search of his old girlfriend, now married to the local district attorney. Who is after him and why isn’t explained, suffice to say they mean business. Instead of entering the town proper, he settles in an old bar on the outskirts, run by ex boxer Sugar. The two get on, and are soon joined by a another newcomer by the name of Lucas Hood. Hood is also steering clear of town for now, because as it’s brand new sheriff he knows as soon as he goes in there will be no relaxing for him, hence a quiet stopover in the bar for a meal before starting. By the end of episode one the new sheriff has carked it and Starr’s character has decided to take a chance and steal his identity, therefore becoming the sheriff, as you do.

                                      Sheriff Wolverine At Your Service

This probably sounds highly unlikely to you, and that’s a fair shout, but it sets up the story perfectly, and by the third episode (which features the most brutal one on one fight I have ever seen on screen) you’ll have stopped worrying about it, so engrossing is the slowly unfolding story. We find out why Hood (the only name he is called, so we’ll use it from now on) is running, who from, and plenty of other stuff through very, very effective flashbacks, including some dark, powerful prison shit. Seriously, I can’t remember a programme that has had me wincing or mouthing “Oh SHIT” as much as Banshee. The violence is brutal and at times lengthy, and whilst you doubt anyone could actually take the punishment given there’s plenty of bloodied faces and broken limbs. Subtlety is for other shows.

                           Hint: This guy does NOT like to be fucked with

On top of a fantastic story and grimly captivating fights, Banshee also boasts sex scenes that could lead to uncomfortable viewing with elderly relatives. It’s a trend in adult shows that I wish would stop, as it’s getting quite boring now. It doesn’t add anything to the story, people, and we’re grown ups who can go out and get porn if we want it. For me, it’s the only downside in the whole show, much as in Spartacus.

                                          Kyle Proctor : Ex Amish and Proud

The cast is pretty good, with Antony Starr coming across as Wolverine’s long lost brother, snarling everywhere and walking like he’s got an invisible barrel under each arm. This is a man who has spent fifteen years in prison, having to learn to fight for his very life. Basically, he is one tough little bastard as well as being a very unconventional sheriff! The town of Banshee is unofficially rum by Kyle Proctor, a cast off from the local Amish community (who are used well throughout) who is unsurprisingly Hood’s second biggest pain in the arse. The biggest, of course, is the guy trying to kill him, but to give more info about that guy would be spoileriffic, so I’ll not go there.

                                           Yes, She Does Get Jiggly!

Banshee is about as adult a drama as you are going to get, telling a very well structured story and racking up the tension with every episode. It drip feeds information at just the right pace, and is full of action. The first series runs at ten episodes, and does not leave you with a cliffhanger (great idea, by the way). Series two has been commissioned, and hopefully will follow the same path, telling a single ten episode story. Naturally, it’s not going to be to everyone’s taste, but I was gripped week by week, and I would rate this alongside Spartacus and Game Of Thrones as one of the best adult drama series of the last decade.

Official Site:  http://www.cinemax.com/banshee/

THE fight of the series from Episode Three - If you like this, you really need to watch the show:

THE PSYCHEDELIC JOURNAL OF TIME TRAVEL - Review

Time travel has long fascinated mankind. From Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau's 1887 book El Anacronópete all the way through to Doctor Who, we blummen well love it, despite the headaches it can bring. Well, if you have a thing for bizarre time travel stories you should enjoy the latest production from the Crazy Fox stable, who have previously given us the top notch “Doctor WTF?” mags.

Now I should point out here that this review is based on a downloaded copy of TPJOTT (yeah, like I’m gonna keep typing that mouthful!), and as such I cannot comment on the quality of the physical issue. What I will say is that if it is up to the standard of previous publications (and I am assured that it is) then you will have no worries and can settle down to enjoy a glossy A5 publication that won’t fall apart like Lib Dem promises.

And so to the stories. There are twelve short bursts of creativity contained within, with the expected mixture of skill and storytelling. One thing to point out is there isn’t a duffer in sight. This is no amateur hour, and it’s astounding how detailed, complex and downright fun a three or four page story can be. We have some gorgeous as well as scripts. George Coleman takes the black and white crown for his work on “History Lesson”, skating perilously close to Dave Gibbons levels of greatness with great talent and clarity. The story itself is a neat and clever look at the affects of altering your personal history, a common theme in time travel stories but handled in an original fashion here. Special mention must go to “the Time Templars Vs The Daemonic Dinos, firstly for having an awesome title, secondly for being lots of fun and thirdly for some gorgeous colour art from David Broughton. Add a fun script from Oscar Maltby with a brave pun at the end and you’ve got a  winner.  Another story of particular note is “3000 Dollar Second”, a very smart look at localised time pockets, very well written by Mike Lynch and expertly drawn and coloured by Neil Ford. This one starts off the issue and was a very good choice from editor Owen Watts (who owes me a wig made from his lustrous locks for this review).

TPJOTT really is a first class collection, with enough variety to entertain everyone who likes a bit of good old fashioned time travel sci-fi. The quality of scripts and art is very high, with plenty of stuff you wouldn’t bat an eyelid at if it popped up in the likes of 2000AD. As ever, it’s a labour of love from the creators, who may get a bacon sandwich at the upcoming Bristol Comics Convention if they are lucky but sod all else. This is am love that deserves to be shared, though, so click on the link, part with your cash and enjoy one of the more enjoyable comic collections of 2013 so far. 

http://www.comicsy.co.uk/crazyfoxmachine/ 

FM - "Rockville" Album Review

FM are the group that never quite made it but never quite gave up either. Vocalist Steve Overland once joked about the number of top 50 singles they had back in the day, never quite cracking the charts like so many people predicted they were destined to do. Then, in the 90’s, grunge came along and kicked them in the bollocks. Grunge was like that, which is why normal people hated it. Today’s kids have David Cameron to hate, we had Grunge.

So FM disappeared for a while, but the rise of the internet allowed more and more people to badger them about getting back together, and so they reformed for a one off gig at Firefest in 2007, having so much fun and receiving such a great response that they decided to give it another go. The comeback album, ‘Metropolis’, was a corker, the band incorporating a more bluesy sound to go with their soulful AOR, most likely due to the recruitment of new guitarist Jim ‘Even His Shooze Are Blooze’ Kirkpatrick. Next month sees the follow up, for which the band have embraced the modern age by funding it through Pledge Music, something that was so successful they’ve actually recorded a second disc after getting more than double their target. For now, though, it’s time to visit ‘Rockville’.

The album opens with a muted guitar and muffled drums that take a few seconds to burst into stereo (yeah, it’s an old trick) and we’re off with ‘Tough Love’, a mid paced track that rattles along with a strong beat until the catchy chorus kicks in. If there’s something FM know about, it’s catchy choruses, and this one will have you singing along with no difficulty whatsoever. Steve Overland croons as well as he ever does, and to be honest it’s a pain writing about him because I tend to run out of superlatives to describe his voice. Let’s just say he’s jolly good at this singing lark, is Steve. The production is nicely in your face, allowing Pete ‘Don’t Call me Robert Lindsay’ Jupp to really shine at the back, as well as showing off the very tidy licks and solos from Young Master Kirkpatrick. This is definitely a textbook way to start an album.

Track two, ‘Wake Up the World’, is actually one of my favourites on the album. It starts off like a slow, soulful ballad, picking up the pace slowly and moving to a superb chorus that should have hands waving live. It’s got an ‘Only The Strong’ vibe about it, which can’t be a bad thing. The quality continues with “Only Foolin’, which fans should be aware of from the EP release last year, then it’s on to the first truly AOR track on the album, ‘Crave’. This is a guitar led, summery song with a great hook, and although it’s about a failed love affair the melody is so infectious you’ll be glad it failed!  Next up there’s a nice little duo in ‘Show Me The Way’ and ‘My Love Bleeds’, two tracks that bounce along very infectiously, although I can’t help thinking that in the latter Steve Overland is singing about ‘My Love Beads’, the dirty boy! It’s a good, chunky riff driven song, though, whilst ‘Show Me The Way’ has a little more fluff but is no less catchy.

The first ballad comes in at number seven, in the shape of ‘Story Of My Life’. As with any FM ballad, it’s lifted from potential obscurity by Overland’s soulful delivery. I have to say that I’m not a massive ballad fan in general, but this has got an amazing chorus that will keep it on the playlist for sure, even if the opening piano bit is almost lifted from Heart’s ‘Alone’. ‘Better Late Than Never’ kicks off with a solid, bluesy riff from Jim, morphing into a more standard AOR track which will keep your toes tapping and your fingers clicking with it’s infectious beat and a groove that flirts between melodic rock, blues and a little honky tonk thanks to Jem Davis on the keyboards. I think my favourite track must be ‘Crosstown Train’, where FM finally get to let loose with some truly big riffage and a faster pace than elsewhere. Jim gets to play with fills, riffs and a great rock solo, and probably the best comparison would be the storming ‘Bad Luck’ from the ‘Tough It Out’ album, more for the feel of the thing rather than the actual tune involved.

The album closes with another two great tracks, marking a full house for the album, quality-wise. ‘Goodbye Yesterday’ and ‘High Cost Of Loving’ both score high in the melody stakes, with the former treading familiar melodic rock territory and the latter with a more soulful edge. Together they wrap up what may well be the bands finest effort, certainly up there with the likes of ‘Tough It Out’ in terms of melody and power. I’m certainly intrigued as to what ‘Rockville II’, the ten track disc to be released on March 25th, will bring.  Suffice to say, this is an album FM fans will adore, and if you spread the word through social media with the video for ‘Tough Love’ freely available they may just pick up some new devotees. Either way this is a must, so Buy Or Die, true believers.

www.fmofficial.com/

SAXON - "SACRIFICE" CD Review

37 years and twenty studio albums… you’d think that Saxon didn’t have any more heavy metal left in them, but faced with the mammoth task of following up the excellent “Call To Arms” they’ve stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the fookin’ park yet again.

Whilst I enjoyed Saxon’s more heavy metal output that kept them afloat for much of the late nineties and noughties, I always preferred their more melody led output, where they mixed ball achingly heavy riffs with catchy choruses and a natural flowing style. As with their previous release, “Sacrifice” takes what’s best about Saxon in their NWOBHM days and Saxon as a heavy metal band and squeezes them together to hopefully keep everyone happy.

With that said, you’re not going to get anything really new here, as Saxon are one of those bands that aren’t prone to too much experimentation. Regardless, whilst bands like Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath have their copycats, I have still never heard another band that have a sound quite like Saxon. This is partly due to Biff Byford’s unique vocal sound, a sound he will be lending to Avantasia in a couple of months. He sounds as good as he ever has here, and I can vouch for the fact that he can also carry it off live as well, a true metal god if ever there was one.

The only skippable moment on the whole album is that old bugbear the unnecessary intro. A pointless minute and a half at the beginning of the album, all “Procession” manages to do is piss me off, but at least it can be skipped rather than being bolted on to the first song proper, the belting title track. It kicks in with a crunchy riff, some neat wah wah work and Biff riding the lot like a surfer on a wave. It’s a heavy song, but never sacrifices (no pun intended) melody for simple power. From here on it’s non stop, without any ballads or plodding metal grinders in sight. “Warriors Of The Road” is worthy of extra attention, a fast and very melodic piece that should kick ass live, and even when things slow down a bit for “Night Of The Wolf”, it’s all about atmosphere, bringing to mind the likes of “Dallas 1pm” or “Crusader”. I have a felling that this one might just get it’s claws (pun definitely intended) into the live setlist for a few years to come. The only sort of let down is the album closer “Standing In A Queue” which is a good song musically but is let down by some pretty naff lyrics about, well, standing in queues.

In closing, “Sacrifice” is as good as any Saxon album of the last thirty years (and a bit). It’s everything you love about the band musically and lyrically, and it really is astonishing that they can keep making such exciting music after all this time without sounding tired or repetitive. Simply put, this is a must buy for any Saxon fan, even those who drifted off years ago. Saxon are still here, so stand up and be counted with them.

www.saxon747.com

THE LAST STAND - Film Review

It's been a while since I updated this blog, and I'm sorry for that, but stuff will be along soonest!

It’s been quite a wait of you don’t count “The Expendables” films, but The Austrian Oak is back, attempting to out act the scenery and shooting big guns like he’s not a billion years old. “The Last Stand” is not a film for film buffs, but it’s certainly one for those who appreciate a good old 1980’s style cheese fest, the natural successor to the likes of “Commando” or “Eraser”.

The plot, such as it is, sees a big shot terrorist escape from custody in spectacular style, then steal a high performance souped up car to race to the Mexican border. Such is the speed at his command, the Feds can’t catch or stop him, especially when they realise he will be taking a route through a small Southern town where his mates have bridged a canyon. If only there was a small town sheriff the size of a small truck who saw plenty of mad action during his time with the LAPD, preferably with a dumb accent and ginormous muscles. Well, as luck would have it…

Yep, it’s down to Arnholdt and his luckless deputies to fight off Mr Terrorists gang and also stop the man himself making it over the border. They could, of course, just stand aside and pick their noses for a few hours and not get at all killed, but Sheriff Schwarzenegger don’t play it that way, as we well know. Also, it would be a shit film.

So we get Arnie in full flow, Forest Whitaker as an FBI agent who isn’t sure what the heck’s going on and Johnny Knoxville as a loopy local with plenty of firepower he’s happy to play with. Subtlety is thrown out of the window, and this really should be a massive excuse for reviewers to make jokes about the fact that this sort of thing doesn’t really work any more, especially with old Governatots wheezing about in the desert and making self referential “I’m old” jokes. No siree, that shouldn’t work AT ALL… but it does.

“The Last Stand” has been sneaked in post Christmas with minimal long term advertising, and despite all these classic “Bad Movie” signs it’s a lot of fun. There is a definite need to leave your brain at the door, but at least this is a film that never pretends to be anything other than it is, and tie that together with a decent script and good direction  and you’ve got a fun night out. I expect more these days from Stallone and Willis, but this is the sort of thing that Arnie does best, so sit back and enjoy it.

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTB-gbC4gkY

JEFF WAYNES MUSICAL VERSION OF THE WAR OF THE WORLDS - THE NEW GENERATION

No one would have believed, that in 1978 a musical version of H.G Wells’ classic sci-fi novel ‘War Of The Worlds’ would actually be a critical and commercial success. A million to one, they said, but it was a success anyway. Beautiful, dazzling and emotional, it has endured for over 30 years now, but who would ever think that a new version was needed, let alone wanted?

The release of this new version is a bit of a head scratcher for purists. Sure, this ‘The New Generation’ and all that guff, but can you improve on perfection? The short answer is ‘no’, because this isn’t better than the original, but the long answer is ‘no, but it’s brilliant anyway, because it’s War Of The Worlds’.

So first we have the personnel changes. Top of the list is Liam Neeson, whose deep, passionate voice is an able replacement for the departed Richard Burton, and if you see the new live show his hologram will wander about and interact, by all accounts. David Essex’s Artilleryman is now brought to life surprisingly effectively by Kaiser Chief’s frontman Ricky Wilson, who puts in a very Essex-like performance that he will replicate for the tour. There’s also great casting in Joss Stone as Beth, with Maverick Sabre as her husband, the Parson, Nathaniel. Good stuff, all of them, and they keep the drama alive with passion to spare.

The only downside to this new version is Gary Barlow, who cannot hold a candle to Justin Hayward on the deeply emotional ‘Forever Autumn’. He just hasn’t got the vocal chops to carry such a song, and although competent is not good enough for this project. Aside from him, however, it is genuinely hard to find fault with the new performers.

Musically, there isn’t a great deal of difference, other than a more modern production that works very well in headphones when you whack the volume up. There’s a touch too much with some new keyboard layers at times, but it’s a small niggle.

The question of which is best is rather a moot one. If it wasn’t for Barlow’s vocals then it would probably be a dead heat, and I can see the new star names bringing this superb musical dramatisation to a new generation of fans, which is never a bad thing. If you have never hear this before, I would say stick to the original, with it’s fantastic presentation and Justin Hayward vocals, as well as David Essex and Phil Lynott. That said, the new version still has the power to move anyone who hears it, and as long as you get one of them, you’ll enjoy the hell out of it.

Wreck It Ralph - Film Review

Okay, so this is a nice surprise from the non Pixar arm of the House Of Mouse, a computer generated animated movie that is aimed at video game players and pretty much no one else. Luckily, there’s a hell of a lot of video gameers out there, old and young, and the good news is that Wreck It Ralph can be appreciated by all of them, whether you’re an old school die hard who remembers when Space Invaders first came out (me), or a member of the Mario kart and Halo brigade, wondering how anyone ever had fun before Hi-Def graphics.

The story revolves around, unsurprisingly, Wreck It Ralph, the bad guy in a 30 year old arcade game called Fix-It-Felix-Jr, sort of a mix of Rampage and Donkey Kong, and he’s a little fed up of being the villain, and even goes to a support group that is filled with iconic evil doers all bemoaning their fate. This leads to him going to other games in the arcade, because when it’s closed all the characters can mingle, although if they don’t get back to their own games come the morning there is a danger they will be turned off as faulty - the worst fate imaginable.

First off, there’s a real sense that this was made by people who have a genuine affection for all sorts of video games, with older characters moving more jerkily than the new, high resolution ones, with a special mention for poor Q*Bert, who is homeless after having his cabinet turned off. The original characters have been created perfectly, with real personalities showing through the generic facades. Vocally, everything works well, too, with Ralph brought nicely to life by John C Reilly, and the hero of his game, do gooder Fix It Felix Jr, a spot on performance from 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer.

Wreck It Ralph will certainly confuse non gamers, although the story has a heart and humour that may still keep non gamer parents amused if bemused. Although some of the classic game references will go over kids heads, the bulk of the story revolves around more modern game ideas, with the retro touches there to amuse the old folks like me. Hopefully this won’t be tarnished with a rushed, rubbish actual game tie in, because Wreck It Ralph is a class IP all by itself. Funny, cute and original, this is another modern animated movie that hits all the right spots. Game on…

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87E6N7ToCxs

IMDB:
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1772341/